


Gossip

by jargonelle



Category: Skins (UK)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-19
Updated: 2007-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:43:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1637126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jargonelle/pseuds/jargonelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone's got an opinion. Cassie/Michelle. [Mature themes, some offensive language.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gossip

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to Mel for looking over this for me.  
> This story starts off pre-series and then moves on to contain spoilers of all of series 1 and for the 'Unseen Skins' features associated with it.  
> This is Skins fic so there is swearing and offensive language, along with references to anorexia, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse and there are hints at many (mostly canon) pairings.  
> Written for timjr

~~

Ask anyone, and they would tell you that Cassie slept around.

She hated feeling empty, even though it was the standard by which she measured her life, and if she could fill herself with the vodka and the pills and the desperate dick of a guy who didn't even know her name, sometimes it helped, a little.

More often though, it wasn't enough, _they_ weren't enough, and desperate for something more satisfying, Cassie would gasp and shove, cling on to any sweaty skin within her reach and squeeze until her fingers ached more than her heart did. The boys swore at her, called her filthy names, but the few seconds of peace were worth it, she thought.

She skipped along the path, a blood red scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, and let the insults be torn away by the biting wind. She smiled so wide her cheeks ached, closed her eyes, and wondered if she would fall.

~~

Ask anyone, and they would tell you that Tony was cheating on Michelle.

Whether she was just that dumb or just that desperate was a matter of opinion.

The sad thing, Michelle thought, was that they had probably been right more times than she had realised, but once they had got through the rocky first three months, she really had thought Tony had settled down.

She had never claimed him, of course; he had never worn her mark, the way she had proudly worn his ring and whilst she was sometimes 'Tony's Michelle', he was never 'Michelle's Tony', but she could cope with that. She went out with Jal, dressed in her most 'shag-me' clothes, and flirted with men who didn't care about the fucking shape of her nipples.

They showered her with drinks and she diligently flirted back, promising everything and delivering nothing. She wondered if that was how Tony felt all the time, since the night she had first slept with him, Sid had been the one buying her cocktails.

~~

Ask Cassie and she would say Michelle was 'lovely', but then again everyone knew that Cassie said a lot of things were lovely, even when they clearly weren't.

Cassie had missed many things when she had been at the Clinic (always, always thought with a capital 'C', as if they'd know if she thought about it as anything less). She had missed the burst of pride she felt every time she walked past food without touching it, and they were trying to train that out of her, trying to warp her beliefs until the fat bitch who stared back at her from the mirror cracked and lay broken on the floor.

Cassie had missed sex too, but being surrounded by the loveliest girls she had ever seen had made her curious about what girls outside of the fortress walls wanted. She knew what motivated the girls trapped in with her, they were easy to understand, but everyone on the outside was a mystery now.

She sat on the steps, shivering despite the sun, and watched the human traffic flow. Sid and Tony walked by, animated and boisterous, and neither of them spared her a second glance.

~~

Ask Michelle and she would say that Cassie was just what Sid needed.

He needed to get laid before it became even more of a big deal and Cassie had certainly slept with uglier guys before, for no real reason as far as Michelle could make out.

She countered the bluntness of asking Cassie to let Sid fuck her with the fantasy of wearing a beautiful, white wedding dress. It seemed only natural that Cassie play the groom to her bride - Tony would not have indulged her at any rate.

They were friends, good ones, but Michelle wasn't naive enough to think it was a friendship that would last forever. Jal was much more sensible, more reliable; she could rely on Jal to be there from one day to the next, could trust that Jal wouldn't try to starve herself for weeks, and could trust her not to top herself, slit her wrists and then fall asleep in a bathtub.

She couldn't say the same about Cassie.

~~

Ask Gary Phillips and there was absolutely no way that Jenkins wasn't taking it up the arse from Stonem, or at the very least sucking his cock. Cassie heard the rumours and wondered if Sid would be flattered that there was someone who didn't seem to believe that he was a virgin after all.

She giggled as she poured another drink, watched the clear liquid tumble into the dirty pint glass and couldn't remember why she hadn't just gulped it straight from the bottle. She was too dizzy to put the glass away now - it would be another mess for someone else to clean up and maybe, maybe... she should scribble a note for them, apologising. She didn't have a pen though and she wasn't going to spill blood this time so she hoped that whoever it would be would understand.

She knew that Sid would do almost anything for Tony, and she had suspected that she would always come second place to Michelle.

She hadn't realised that it would hurt so fucking much.

~~

Ask Jal and it was Sid's fault that Cassie was back in rehab.

Ask Michelle and she would agree, definitely, but she couldn't help but believe that it was the best thing that could have happened at the time. Anyway, after all that Tony had done to her, maybe she needed a little rehab herself - which was where Josh entered the picture.

It was wonderful to feel appreciated again, to feel special and loveable and pretty. Maybe this was the boost she needed to finally get on with planning for her life: she could go home and sort through those university prospectuses she had been putting off looking at, could make plans to travel the country and go to the places she had only dreamt about visiting. She could get over Tony. She could leave him speechless in her wake.

It was good, too, that if Cassie had decided she wanted a relationship with Sid that she use Simon to make him jealous. Michelle wanted him jealous.

She walked away from the clinic thinking her eyes were finally open to the world around her.

~~

Ask the tourist board and they would give you a whole host of places in Bristol that were worth exploring, but Cassie had only one thing she wanted to see, and to be honest, it made things a whole lot easier when she showed up at Sid's house and he wasn't even there.

~~

Ask anyone you like - Tony Stonem's a fucking retard now.

He wasn't the same after the accident and when Michelle visited him in hospital, saw him at his absolutely most pitiful and he didn't attempt to kick her out with an arrogant putdown, she realised it was finally over. She saw his true face for the first time and she hated it.

She hated Sid's reaction too. "I was just his fucking girlfriend, Sid, but you were supposed to stick by him. You're his friend."

"I was his puppet," Sid said, "Tony never cared what I thought... and anyway... I've got Cassie to think of now... I've got to convince her to stay here. With me."

"She can't stay here, you know that. Maybe she's the lucky one, getting out of this place while she still can. You shouldn't make things harder for her-"

"But I... I love her!"

Michelle at her manipulative best was a convincingly beautiful sight.

~~

Ask Cassie and she would tell you that Michelle wasn't lovely when she was angry. She was instead an avenging angel, too painful to watch except through averted eyes.

Cassie was not too surprised that Sid had abandoned her for Tony again. She and Sid had shared a kiss and a sunrise, whereas he had followed Tony for years and maybe now it was time for Tony to follow him. Cassie didn't need anyone really, she was just being silly: the Clinic had advised against trusting anything other than routine and the staff - people who had their own problems could not be expected to fix yours, after all.

Cassie had been surprised though by Michelle's righteous fury. "I didn't... He should have been better than... He wasn't supposed to listen!" Michelle ground out between sobs.

"It's all right," Cassie said and she stroked Michelle's hair. "I'm all right, honestly. Absolutely, totally, one hundred percent fine."

Michelle kissed her on the cheek, and then again, slowly, on the lips.

~~

Ask Michelle's mum, and she wouldn't have known that Cassie had spent three consecutive nights sharing Michelle's bed.

They were quiet nights, secret. They didn't mean much, since Cassie was still going to move to Scotland and it wasn't serious or anything, not enough to maintain long distance and anyway, Michelle wasn't a lesbian, she couldn't be.

They didn't exchange words; they exchanged marks.

Michelle's nails scraped down Cassie's back and down her thighs. Cassie's pale skin was easy to break, her body easy to bruise, and Michelle fantasised about sliding her hand up into Cassie's body and then unclenching her fingers until her nails ripped Cassie to shreds from the inside.

Cassie sucked, nibbled and nipped. She pressed her mouth to Michelle's bare neck and bit, gently at first.

"Wow... that was nice," she said afterwards.

~~

Ask Cassie's family and they would say that aside from the money, moving to Bristol had been a big mistake.

Ask Cassie, and she would smile, look directly into your eyes, and then skilfully change the subject. Isn't Elgin lovely at this time of year?

~~

THE END

 


End file.
